Sable brushes
Sable brushes are the best. There's no debate about this. Sure, there are some use cases where the benefits of sable are irrelevant. The fine control provided by sables is lost on large-format oil paintings,…
Category: Shop Talk
I bought manganese violet
Like the title says, I bought some manganese violet. Some artists maintain that they can reproduce every color by using a small collection of paints. While it's true that you can create a tremendous variety…
Don’t go to art school
Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, likes to say that degrees from the nonprestigious schools are just expensive dunce caps. He means that today higher education is close to worthless, except that degrees from the…
Watercolors yes
I was a little rusty with watercolors when I started this painting. It's good-quality paper but I forgot to dampen it before I started. Duh. I finally got it going and finished it quickly (for…
Watercolor colors
My recently-started watercolor cycle represents the first watercolors that I've done for sometime. I still have a good supply of colors, papers, and brushes. Of course, I never use my watercolor brushes for oils. This…
New ink drawings
Yesterday, I was preparing for some watercolor work by inventorying my watercolor supplies. I have an acceptable collection of colors and paper. Puttering with the watercolors led to playing with gauche, which led to painting…
Main Street materials Paintings Shop Talk Tips and Studies Turpentine diaries Uncategorized Vermilion, OH
Arguing with a painting
I've had a long argument with this as-yet-untitled painting. The argument started as soon as I completed the original design. I spent time taking things out of the design after it was supposed to be…